LITTLE ROCK - A homely fish most Arkansans have never heard of has suddenly gained a degree of prominence. The bighead carp, an Asian import used to control aquatic vegetation, is known to be present in modest numbers in the Arkansas River and White River. It is also getting attention from some fish and nutrition advocates as a possible replacement for tuna, since tuna numbers are declining in the oceans.

On April 3, Jeff Hamrick of Little Rock set a new Arkansas record for bighead carp, when he caught a 50 pound, 7 ounce bighead carp by snagging below Murray Lock and Dam on the Arkansas River at Little Rock. Hamrick, who is 21, was fishing for catfish with a friend, Cody Wheeler. They had not seen the front-page article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that morning about the possibility of bighead carp substituting for tuna as canned seafood in the future. Hamrick's fish broke the record of 47 pounds set by Michael Scott Perrigan of Jacksonville, also taken by snagging just below Murray Lock and Dam on the Arkansas River.

Wheeler caught a 40-pound bighead carp on the same outing. This was just a day after another angler brought a 43-pound, 5-ounce bighead to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission headquarters for a try at the state record. It, too, came by snagging on the Arkansas River. Wheeler had his appetite whetted. After the record weighing and certifying process was completed for Hamrick at Game and Fish Commission headquarters, Wheeler went fishing again and caught another bighead carp. This one also was taken to the Game and Fish building, and it weighed 48 pounds, 10 ounces, falling short of Hamrick's new record by less than two pounds.

"The bighead-carp is like the silver carp and the white amur; they came over here from China and have been used to reduce vegetation and algae in lakes, sewage lagoons and other places," said Allen Carter, Chief of Fisheries for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Carter added, "The bighead carp is not common in Arkansas. These fish are probably escapees from an aquaculture facility, and what's notable is they have grown to those big sizes by feeding on plankton, microscopic plant organisms in the water. That's all a bighead carp will eat, plankton."

Bighead carp are found only in major rivers like the Arkansas and the lower White, and fishermen rarely catch them because they don't take large baits. A distinctive feature of the fish is eyes low on each side of the head instead of high on the head like most other fish. The bighead carp's keel or belly plate is short and near the rear instead of extending all the way underneath the fish as with a silver carp.

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Arkansas Outdoors - April 8, 1998. For additional information, contact Joe Mosby (501) 223-6342 or 327-1909, e-mail: jhmosby@agfc.state.ar.us.